Eleanor vs Elenore

[XenaTheWarriorPrincess]

Hey guys,

I'm having a girl and me and my partner have decided on the name Eleanor. We both love it and fine with any possible nicknames that may arise from it.

However, we disagree on how to spell it. I envision it as Eleanor but he sees it as Elenore. Both seem to be valid existing spellings and are pronounced the same way and mean the same thing, from what I can tell Elenore is just an alternative spelling.

Just looking for opinions really on which one you prefer/would choose.

It’s a different name though?

I prefer Eleanor or as somenone posted before Elena.

Americans pronounce Eleanor as Elenore but in the UK Eleanor (in my experience) doesn't have the emphasised nore sound at the end.

The spelling of Elenore does look a bit wacky.

Eleanor.

Eleanor or Elinor and it's definitely pronounced Ella-nor.

If you want Ella-nuh then go for Elena.

Either way she will spend her entire life teaching people how to pronounce it and spell it.

Eleanor or Elinor and it's definitely pronounced Ella-nor.
Only in the US, in the UK it’s said Ell-en-uh

If you want Ella-nuh then go for Elena
In the UK this can be said phonetically Ell-en-uh, or sometimes Ell-ay-na as it is said and spelt in say Italy

Either way she will spend her entire life teaching people how to pronounce it and spell it.
No she won’t, Eleanor is incredibly popular in the UK and it only has one pronunciation here

It’s not though. Are you in the uk? Elinor doesn’t have the ‘nore’ sound at the end of it. The emphasis is on the second syllable instead of the third. And Elena is pronounced El-ay-nah

Only just seen the above post. Yes that’s how I’d pronounce elena. I’ve also just realised looking at it again I might even have to check it’s not el-ee-nah. No one’s pronouncing that like Eleanor. Which everyone knows how to spell

No, Eleanor isn't pronounced Ella-nor in the UK. The emphasis always goes on the first syllable alone, so that it's Ellennuh. She probably will have to spell the name out a lot, but at least the usage of Eleanor is becoming more common so that is how people expect it to be spelt.

The main disadvantage of Elenore is that people will pronounce it putting the emphasis on the last syllable, which makes it rather ugly.

Eleanor 100%
Elenore looks like a spelling mistake

Eleanor or Elanor.

I had two friends when growing up in the NW of England. Both were Eleanor pronounced 'ELL-en-or' like Eleanor Roosevelt or Eleanor of Aquitaine. It's a French name so the 'nor' should definitely be sounded.

I didn't hear it said like Helena without the 'h' until I was much older.

For those of you pronouncing it as the above... do you say Eleanora as 'ell-en-nuh-ah'? 🤔

A bold claim given the variation of accents and dialects across the U.K.

So you’re sure that from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands, Newcastle to Enniskillen, everyone pronounces this one word exactly the same?

Where I’m from OP’s spellings are homophones.

It's a lovely name. Classic and timeless. But please use one of the two normal spellings.

THANK YOU.

Eleanora is the example I use to tell people how to pronounce MY OWN NAME.
ell-en-nuh-uh is not how you'd pronounce Eleanora so just say Eleanora without the a on the end and it's perfect.
Elena has a few different pronunciations so I'd avoid that.
Spelling Eleanor might come easily to some but everything from Starbucks cups to my exam certificates all feature incorrect spellings of Eleanor.
People will just call her Ellie anyway, that's the automatic assumption and it grates on me every time.
It is a beautiful name meaning "bright one" but I've found it to be nothing but an inconvenience.

Wrong.

Ell-eh-nor in Scotland.

And I'd use the classic Eleanor spelling. The other just makes you look like you don't know how to spell it.

I think with Eleanor (or indeed most names) you will always get people asking how to spell it.

I say Elle-NOR not "Elenah" and the two Helenas I know pronounce it "Hel ay na" so there is no confusion there.

For me Eleanor or Elinor (as in Dashwood) are the most standard spellings and the first one by far more common.

My DD is known by friends as El. From about the time Stranger Things came out, oddly enough!

Lovely name though, go for it.

Eleanor is pronounced ell-en-uh (or sometimes ell-in-uh) in the UK
Glad I'm not the only one saying this is incorrect. I'm in England, with an Eleanor and her name is always pronounced with an 'ore' ending.

The Eleanors I know universally pronounce it ellenuh, and that includes a 60 year old.

Eleanor is the better spelling.

I love this name, but couldn't use it because of the pronunciation issues. I only like it with the last syllable pronounced, not like Elena. But as proved by this thread, not always the case here! How do you want it pronounced?

Its Ell-in-err in my accent (or Ell-ay-an-or for a French friend’s child but they have an acute accent on the second e) It was our first choice girls name but never got tp
use it!

That's a shame. I've never noticed a pronunciation issue in 14 years with DD. No-one has ever had any difficulty with the name.

I'm in England too and it's always spelled Eleanor and pronounced El-uh-nuh where I'm from which sounds dull to my ears, especially for such a pretty name. Occasionally here in a thick accent it's El-er-ner which is even more unpleasant.

I much prefer the Ella-nor with a strong or sound at the end but know no one locally would use it. I've thought of how to get around it and came up with Eleanore or Elinor. But the Elinor I know still gets called El-uh-nuh regardless!

Weirdly I've never heard anyone say "Eleanor Roosevelt" wrong...but they might not pronounce the Eleanors they know IRL the same way. It's quite bizarre.

I've never seen the Elenore spelling before.

I came to the conclusion it's just too problematic a name if you're fussy about pronunciation (which I am!).

I also love Helena...but people say Hel-ENN-uh, Hel-AY-nuh, HELL-uh-nuh, Hel-EEN-uh... and so on.

Elena can be El-ay-nuh, El-enn-a, El-een-uh etc

And the uh/ah ending always depends on the local schwah sound in the accent too.

If you aren't fussed about how people say it, the most straight forward and accepted option is Eleanor. I'd imagine people would mess up the spelling with other options.

I have an Eleanor. I toyed with ‘Elinor’ because of Austen. Never ‘Elenore’. In England, Eleanor is usually pronounced with the schwa (/ə/) at the end - ‘eh’. The US, and possibly Wales and Scotland, favour the ‘-or’ ending.

Eleanor.

Elenore is yewneek.